This book provides a comprehensive, fully referenced and readable review of the latest scientific evidence linking women's experiences in childhood and young adult life to their health and disease risk in midlife and beyond. It emphasises the interactive nature of biological, psychological and social risks to health and focuses on the key risks to health for women in developing as well as developed countries. Commentaries on each chapter are given by international experts.

Part I: Introduction 1.1. A life course approach to women's health: does the past predict the present?, Diana Kuh & Rebecca Hardy Part II: Health, Ageing and Disease 2.1. A life course approach to women's reproductive health, Janet Rich-Edwards 2.2. Commentary, Susan Morton 3.1. Breast cancer aetiology: where do we go from here?, Isabel dos Santos Silva & Bianca L De Stavola 3.2. Commentary, Nancy Potischman 4.1. Menopause and gynaecological disorders: a life course perspective, Rebecca Hardy & Diana Kuh 4.2. Commentary, Sybil Crawford & Catherine Johannes 5.1. A life course approach to coronary heart disease and stroke, Debbie Lawlor, Shah Ebrahim & George Davey Smith 5.2. Commentary, Catherine Law 6.1. A life course approach to Diabetes, Helen M Colhoun & Nish Chaturvedi 6.2. Commentary, Janet Rich-Edwards 7.1. A life course approach to musculoskeletal ageing: muscle strength, osteoporosis and osteoarthritis, Joan Bassey, Avan Aihie Sayer & Cyrus Cooper 7.2. Commentary, Jane Cauley 8.1. Depression and psychological distress: a life course perspective, Barbara Maughan 8.2. Commentary, Bryan Rodgers 9.1. Body image: a life course perspective, Lindsay McLaren & Jane Wardle 9.2. Commentary, J Kevin Thompson Part III: Biological, Social and Psychosocial Pathways 10.1. Endocrine pathways in differential and well-being across the life course, Carol M Worthman 10.2. Commentary, Elizabeth Barrett-Connor 11.1. Social and economic trajectories and women's health, Mel Bartley, Amanda Sacker & Ingrid Schoon 11.2. Commentary, Kate Hunt 12.1. Life course influences on women's social relationships at midlife, Nadine F Marks & Kirsty Ashleman 12.2. Commentary, Stephen Stansfield & Rebecca Fuhrer 13.1. A life course perspective on women's health behaviours, Mary Schooling & Diana Kuh 13.2. Commentary, Hilary Graham 14.1. Overweight and obesity from a life course perspective, Chris Power & Tessa Parsons 14.2. Commentary, William H Dietz 15.1. Sexually transmitted infections and health through the life course, Ronald H Gray, Maria J Wawer & David Serwadda 15.2. Commentary, Andrew J Hall Part IV: Explaining Health and Disease Patterns 16.1. Disease trends in women living in established market economies: evidence of cohort effects during the epidemiological transition, Diana Kuh, Isabel dos Santos Silva & Elizabeth Barrett-Connor 16.2. Commentary, Dave A Leon 17.1. The life course of black women in South Africa in the 1990s: generation, age and period in the decade of HIV and political liberation, Zena Stein, Quarraisha Abdool Karim & Mervyn Susser 17.2. Commentary, Yoav Ben-Shlomo & George Davey Smith Part V: Conclusions 18.1. A life course approach to Women's health: linking the past, present and future, Diana Kuh & Rebecca Hardy

Diana Kuh